Port-Siren¶

Region¶

Ravance

Description¶

Ravance’s largest city and arguably the most diverse settlement in all of Tavrenne. Port-Siren is built on stilts over the tide — colorful, haphazard, and loud. The streets smell like salt, fried fish, and trouble. Every dock has a story and most of them end in a knife fight or a business deal, which in Port-Siren are often the same thing.

The city runs on trade, both legal and otherwise. Tirael sailors form the majority, but the docks are crowded with Ashveil traders hauling enchanted coral and deep-sea reagents, Tharun fishmongers keeping the port fed, and rogue Auriels who washed out of Velmere’s rigid society and found a second life here. Nobody in Port-Siren asks where a newcomer came from. They only care about what is in the cargo hold.

Maritime disputes fall under the Tidewrit — Ravance’s own legal code governing harbor law, salvage rights, and piracy charges. The Empire recognizes it for maritime matters and pretends to have jurisdiction over everything else. The line between the two is whatever the harbormasters say it is on any given day.

The Crimson Compact treats Port-Siren as an unofficial safe harbor. The Salt Table meets in the back room of The Drowned Rat, the city’s most notorious tavern, and Compact agents move through the crowds like they own the place — which, in some ways, they do. The Tidewright School trains the best shipwrights and navigators in the Empire here, one of the few institutions where Tiraels outnumber Auriels and the Empire can do nothing about it.

Key Features¶

The Drowned Rat: The most notorious tavern in Ravance, built on a listing barge lashed to the central pier. The back room is where the Crimson Compact’s Salt Table convenes to divide territory, settle debts, and broker the deals that keep the black market running. Everyone in Port-Siren knows what happens in that back room. No one talks about it.
The Tidewright School: Ravance’s premier academy, specializing in navigation, maritime engineering, and naval architecture. It is one of the few institutions in the Empire where Tirael students outnumber Auriels, and its graduates are the finest shipwrights on the continent. The school maintains a fleet of training vessels, and second-year students spend six months at sea.
Smuggler’s Cove: A network of hidden docks built into the sea caves beneath Port-Siren’s eastern cliffs. Officially, the caves do not exist. In practice, half the city’s real commerce passes through them — contraband Erythium, unlicensed enchantments, and goods the Empire would rather not see moving freely.
The Harbormasters’ Court: Where the Tidewrit is enforced. Three elected harbormasters — always Tiraels, by unbroken tradition — arbitrate maritime disputes, salvage claims, and piracy charges. Their rulings are final within the harbor and carry more weight in Port-Siren than any Imperial decree.

Role¶

The black market capital of Tavrenne and its busiest port. Anyone seeking something illegal, rare, or forbidden by the Empire comes here.

Notable Residents¶

Harbormaster Sylene Tidemark (Tirael) — Senior of the three harbormasters. Has held the seat for nineteen years, longer than anyone in living memory. Her rulings are fair, fast, and final. Rumored to have a private arrangement with the Crimson Compact regarding which ships get inspected and which do not. When asked directly, she said: “I inspect every ship that needs inspecting.” Nobody pressed the point.
Old Maren (Tharun) — Runs the fish stall at the central pier. Has been there since before anyone can remember. Knows the name of every captain who docks regularly, what they are carrying, and what they are lying about. Feeds the stray cats. Feeds anyone who looks hungry. When the Compact needs to get a message to someone discreetly, the message ends up in a fish wrapper at Old Maren’s stall. She claims to know nothing about this.
“Glass” Torvek (Duralith) — Bouncer at the Drowned Rat. Seven feet tall, granite skin, a voice like gravel in a barrel. Despite appearances, Torvek is the gentlest person in Port-Siren. He breaks up fights by picking both parties up and holding them apart until they calm down. Came to Ravance from Ironridge after a disagreement with the Guilds that he will not discuss. Plays the flute, badly, on quiet evenings. The regulars pretend not to hear.
Reva Ashwind (Ashveil) — Runs a stall in Smuggler’s Cove selling enchanted coral and deep-sea reagents of questionable legality. One of the few Ashveils who left Zarnath voluntarily. Wears sand-colored robes in a port city and does not care that she stands out. Believes the Covenant’s collapse will hit the coasts first and has been quietly stockpiling supplies. Tells anyone who will listen that “the sea is sick.” Most people think she is paranoid. The Tirael fishermen are starting to agree with her.